My chess adventures, which I promised last time, began when I was seven years old. I, and my dad (Albert), were taught by my mum (Jo) via my aunty Jane (who, sadly, is no longer with us). My dad (who has also passed away) was my first opponent and, for years, my only opponent, but I easily left him behind. When I was twelve (when I also learned to play Scrabble - more of that another time), I played Anatoly Karpov, then World Junior Champion, in a simultaneous display where the grandmaster plays many opponents at once. I lost of course, but it opened my eyes to a wider and much tougher world out there. It was also the year of the notorious Fischer-Spassky match (1972) where the American seized the title from the Russians who'd held it since the second world war. The book on the match by Svetozar Gligoric was my first chess book.
I joined Leicester chess club when I was 15 and started playing league games there. I won my first one as an unknown when old Harry Tharp left his queen en prise. I also played for my school, Wyggeston Boys' Grammar School, as it was then (It's now Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth College)back when it had strong players like Mark Hassall, James Essinger and Richard Pennington. I did all right, though not as well as two people I met during this period - Glenn Flear and Mark Hebden, both of whom became grandmasters and made a living out of the game!
I also attended chess competitions (called congresses) and never really sparkled. But at eighteen I went to university in Nottingham. At their height (when they had international masters John Emms and Jane Garfield playing for them) they had seven teams and I was in the second team. It was here that my solidity and endgame play improved and I started achieving a grade of about 150BCF (about 1800Elo). The matches were always something to look forward to, and the most vivid memory I have (apart from drawing with the team from Sutton in Ashfield when we turned up late a player short) was our teammate Phil Thomas having a post mortem on his game with the opponent at Grantham, who we beat, and him missing the last bus home. He walked the 26 miles back to university and arrived the following day at breakfast time! (Phil was a fellow PhD chemist, by the way).
More chess adventures next time.
Jack Orchison
April 13, 2014.
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